So much for free speech: Duke University discourages use of certain words with new campaign

by Meghan

Monday, Apr 28, 2014 at 2:21 PM EDT

Earlier this year, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg gathered a bevy of her famous friends for a PSA advocating the banning of the word bossy. Look no further than Duke University for the latest example of political correctness run amuck. The school’s ‘You Don’t Say Campaign’ seeks to “raise awareness around the misuse of language that relates to the LGBTQ community and gender issues” with the goal of “foster[ing] dialogue on the intersection of language and gender and sexual identities.” On radio this morning, Pat and Stu couldn’t help but roll their eyes at the left’s latest attempt to ban words in an attempt to change culture.

Your browser does not support iframes.

The campaign’s Facebook page features black and white photos of students and bold print describing what words or phrases they “don’t say.” A few examples:

“I don’t say ‘fag’ because it only serves to hurt and oppress homosexual men.”

“It all stems from a society that has a right word to use. Everyone knows what you’re talking about. Everyone knows, you know, what you’re saying. And you can judge a person on what they’re saying, as we’ve talked about with Donald Sterling today and everything else,” Stu concluded. “But to go-to this idea that you have to ban certain words or discourage them. Some of the most informative things are people making horrible comments when they think they can say them because you learn about them.”